Friday, 26 September 2014

Since SailorMoon Crystal, and the retro-anime revival trend, Sailor Moon jewelery, motifs, accessories and outfits have been everywhere! It's an exciting time for fans! Sailor Lolita is a very well-known, standard sub-style of lolita, inspired by japanese school outfits combined with lolita fashion. Being such a standard style, every summer, almost every brand produces Sailor themed dresses and skirts and accessories - so they're easy t come by. However, if you dont want to fork out for brand for a halloween co-ord, there are plenty options for cosplay accessories to adorn your existing pieces.

There are plenty of options for accessories and outfit pieces, official and fanmade!

For a Dandy/Ouji option, Tuxedo Mask is an obvious choice. A typical black and white boy-style outfit, with a top hat, white mask, and replica star-shaped pocket watch, you have a Tuxedo Mask Co-Ord!

Thursday, 25 September 2014

"Angelic" or sometimes "Saint" Lolita has become a popular style recently. Especially with runway designers also producing things with this theme, particularly the aptly nicknamed "Madonna head dress".

Key aspects include feathery wings and religious motifs. Often also bejeweled or blood "tears".

Photo on the left is from Halloween 2011, when I wore an angel/devil outfit. Something I may re-visit as a lolita outfit.
Photo on the right is a re-vamp of last year's "Stone Angel" outfit, inspired by the kind of stone angels in old architecture and graveyards. This outfit is based entirely around the Snowfield's grave print skirt, however, I think I'd prefer it with grey wings and blouse.

Wednesday, 24 September 2014

"Pirate Lolita" is often considered a main sub-style of lolita fashion. Arguably because of the brand "Alice and the Pirates", and their year-round releases of tri-corn hats and treasure chest style handbags. However, "pirate" costumes are also a very popular mainstream halloween costume, so the overlap works as a halloween-lolita idea I think.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Arguably a sub-category of 'Guro loli', the nurse look is quite popular, even with brand releases in the style (see above: metamorphose Hospitality Doll and Englesbeginn series)And more recently, the indie brand "bunny and black" released an aproned nurse set (below)

This style relies less on blood splatter and gore, and more on medical themes and accessories. Skulls and bones, caduceus and crosses all make perfect motifs for Nurse outfits. Although this style is usually seen in the typical white-and-red, there is a little more lee-way with colours to play around with. of course this style is not limited to lolita! Last year I went for a "dandy doctor" style, complete with white coat. Add a white coat to a lolita outfit for a doctor-loli theme, or simply replace the skirt of a nurse outfit with shorts or trousers for a dandy nurse style!

Monday, 22 September 2014

The image that comes to mind when people talk about "guro lolita" is usually a very old-school look, entirely in white, with blood splattered across it. It's simple, it's effective, and I think every Lolita should try it at least once! It's been a popular option for halloween co-ords since the beginning of lolita fashion.

the image on the left might be one of the most widespread, and oldest popular examples of traditional blood-splattered Guro Loli, appearing first on LJ many moons ago! It is still one of the best examples of the style.

It's really up to you how far you want to go too - if you want to be completely blood-soaked, or tone it down and be simply 'wounded'

Some high fashion shows lately have shown this style of beading, to make a 3D blood effect:

it's both beautiful and gurotesque imho. Doing something like this for a costume would be time consuming, and painstaking, but the effect would surely be worth the effort!Another idea is to use jewelery styled in a similar way, for the bejeweled-blood effect without so much of the work;

Other ways of doing this well-worn idea with a new twist is to wear it with colours instead of white. A simple blue or pink dress, with the usual blood-splattter effect would have the same look, while still being a little bit different!

Friday, 19 September 2014

They don't go with lolita, I could never get it right, they look weird on my face shape.

Even in dandy, they look odd on me, no matter how much I may have wanted to wear one.

2. Don't bother trying to read manga purely because they have Lolita characters.

I've wasted a lot of time on this, wading through utter drivel purely because I liked the way the characters looked. There are plenty of good lolita-manga out there, but if it's not a good story - don't keep reading just because there's nice outfits. Just look up artwork instead, and read stories you enjoy.